Capstone Turbine Corporation Announces Successful Demonstration of Solar Powered Microturbine

CHATSWORTH, Calif., July 27, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com ) (Nasdaq:CPST), the world's leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, announced today that HelioFocus and Capstone successfully demonstrated a product converting sunlight to electricity with a solar receiver driving a microturbine.

The demonstration was conducted with a Capstone C65 microturbine by HelioFocus and Capstone on a fixed optical tower using heliostats at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Ness Ziona, Israel, HelioFocus Ltd. engages in the development of modular, high efficiency Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) systems.

The traditional Capstone microturbine engine uses gaseous or liquid fuels to heat combustion air. The HelioFocus Solar Concentrator focuses enough sunlight energy to provide heat to drive the microturbine. This renewable solution offers higher solar conversion efficiencies over traditional solar photovoltaic systems. In addition the increased power density of this system should reduce the amount of land required by a traditional solar photovoltaic system.

"The concept scales to all Capstone microturbine products, from the C30 through the C1000 Series, generating 30kW to 5MW of electricity," said Mark Gilbreth, Capstone Executive Vice President and CTO. "The commercial Concentrated Solar Power product should compare favorably in cost to photovoltaic."

"The value proposition driving this joint product development effort between HelioFocus and Capstone is that it gives solar projects the capability to generate energy more efficiently during the day and to continue to provide energy at night," said Darren Jamison, Capstone President and CEO. "Efficiency is extremely important in solar power systems as a means to reduce size and space, and ultimately drive down installation costs," added Jamison.

About Capstone Turbine Corporation

Capstone Turbine Corporation (www.capstoneturbine.com) (Nasdaq:CPST) is the world's leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems, and was the first to market commercially viable microturbine energy products. Capstone Turbine has shipped over 5,000 Capstone MicroTurbine(R) systems to customers worldwide. These award-winning systems have logged millions of documented runtime operating hours. Capstone Turbine is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Combined Heat and Power Partnership, which is committed to improving the efficiency of the nation's energy infrastructure and reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. A UL-Certified ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified company, Capstone is headquartered in the Los Angeles area with sales and/or service centers in the New York Metro Area, Mexico City, Nottingham, Shanghai and Singapore.

The Capstone Turbine Corporation logo is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6212

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is used in the federal securities laws, about the use and advantage of our products in solar applications. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "objective," "intend," "targeted," "plan" and similar phrases. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties described in Capstone's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that may cause Capstone's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied in such statements. Capstone cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Capstone undertakes no obligation, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Capstone Turbine Corporation" and "Capstone MicroTurbine" are registered trademarks of Capstone Turbine Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT:  Capstone Turbine Corporation
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          ir@capstoneturbine.com

Released July 27, 2010